Trooper story -- so much wasted potential.

[DomiSotto]

I am glad to meet someone else, who likes Yuun. I am not reading the spoiler - still need to complete Chapter 3. That's in 7 levels of Sorcerer and 29 levels of Imperial Agent.

[Jedi_riches]

He is a bit quirky and a little different to the other companions, I can safely say the only trooper companion I disliked was Vik, especially after running around Balmorra looking for him and him telling me what to do, I actually chose the option to hit him when we first met face to face.

[Codedrago]

He is a bit quirky and a little different to the other companions, I can safely say the only trooper companion I disliked was Vik, especially after running around Balmorra looking for him and him telling me what to do, I actually chose the option to hit him when we first met face to face.

 

I hated Vik after the mission. I calmly followed his orders thinking ''This must be some giant blow against the empire or something''

But no, it was revealed that Vik got a load of loyal troops killed, for a few goddamn credits. This made me exit the conversation so I could punch the bastard

[DomiSotto]

I hit Vik as well. Hard. But that’s what you do with the likes of him. I feel that in some twisted way he does fit in. Even with my prim and proper, patriotic and honorable Trooper. Maybe he needs Vik to keep his feet planted on the ground and shave off some of that idealism. Maybe he needs an access to an ordinary person in the Republic.

[Damask_Rose]

I run my tank with Yuun and quite like the little guy

 

The trooper story itself though, I didn't really care for. The trooper just felt ridiculously jingoistic from start to finish.

[CrutchCricket]

Story was indeed meh, apart from a few gems (well, just one really, starts with J, rhymes with Axo). But I enjoyed it because I approached it differently then the rest. More specifically I didn't take it seriously.

 

That's not to say I was completely flippant. But I initially made my trooper a joke character and went through Ord Mantell alternating between "hoorah" and dick move conversation options for maximum lulz. But out of that came what I consider to be the best way to play the character, namely the stereotypical sociopathic or "goon soldier" (plus or minus more sane or even honorable moments so you're not just a darkside ******** all the time). You know the type, full on military meathead who you're never quite sure if he's just uber patriotic and doesn't mind the violence or if patriotism's really just an excuse to do the violence. Someone who'd fit right into Starship Troopers or Full Metal Jacket. Sometimes he's by the book respectable, other times he's completely off the chain. And barring some cases where it got a tad disjointed it worked beautifully. I made treason his berserk button and that alone informed many of my choices (i.e. Tavus, the random heads of state you rescue at the start of Act 3 etc) the actions of which in turn made other choices just as natural (Senator Zian) and further codified what this dude was: an unapologetic diehard (perhaps blindly so) loyalist who's a tad unhinged but at the end of the day still does only what he thinks is best, according to his own simplified view of the world.

 

I think my point is, don't play the trooper expecting some grand philosopher of war or squeaky clean warrior of light (even the Jedi have some dirt) . I think the story aims for a few themes of the military hero motif (politician meddling, patriotism blind or otherwise, tough choices) and hits them fairly well. Could things have been done better? Hell yes. After act 1 it feels like we're borrowing a page from the knight and the smuggler (superweapons and random military leaders, oh my). But I also think someone earlier hit it on the head: unlike the other classes this one isn't about you becoming the Most Awesome Thing EVER alongside those three other Most Awesome Things EVER and the millions of individual iterations between them. It's just about some dudes who get the job done, like real people. And they're flawed like real people.

 

Anyway there were some surprising moments of good roleplay so even if the story's not as enticing as some of the other classes it still gets a pass from me.

[DomiSotto]

Wow, Damask, you just added a new word to my vocabulary. Thank you. J I guess, with the Republic being so outnumbered by the Imperial players, and the amount of criticism (imo unfair) being thrown the Republic writers’ way, I just like playing an openly, unapologetic and wholeheartedly Republic-loyal character.

[CloudCastle]

I'm working on my second trooper now and I'm having a whole new appreciation for the story this time around. I'm not sure, but I think it has to do with connecting to my character more. The first time, I played a body type 3 female Cathar who was tough as nails and followed orders to the letter. That meant a lot of dark side choices and occasionally getting yelled at. (Being told I was a monster for destroying priceless relics in a museum on Corellia comes to mind.) Garza loved me though.

 

This time I am playing a light side male trooper, who also happens to be a Pureblood. He's this big, scary looking guy but he's painstakingly polite and endlessly honorable. (I infiltrated an imperial base on Tatooine and when discovered, the enemy NPC says, "Identify yourself!" My guy calmly walked up and said something like, "Hi, I'm from Havok Squad. Nice to meet you." Cracked me up. )

 

There are a ton of moral choices in this the trooper story, and unlike in the Jedi stories, there is frequently no obvious right or wrong choice. I really like that, because it makes me think, and both play throughs still made sense, even when making opposite choices. Right now I'm enjoying being all, "For the Republic! Raaah!" but I still have to stop and consider how my character would act, because sometimes both choices seem right in different ways.

[Fordel]

The biggest flaw with the Trooper story isn't even with the story, it's simply a game limitation. You are supposed to be leading a team, but 90% of the time all you're actually doing is running around with a sidekick. The strongest points of the class story are those handful of set pieces where you have more then one squad-mate with you. Where the entire squad is giving you their input and you are making choices of who does what and when. The team dynamic is key to this kind of setting and theme. It's a Band of BrotherS, plural. Like compare Havoc to say Delta from Republic Commando, how off would Republic Commando be if it was just you running around alone the entire time?

 

 

There are other issues, pacing is weird after act 1. Like the filler is VERY filler, a lot of "you are doing this because this is a MMO and you need to level", which can break the narrative flow a lot. Like you could cut out almost all of the planetary class quests after Act 1 and not lose much. The story is being told through the set pieces, those are the strong points.

 

I also hear a lot of complaints about Rakton simply not being enough of an adversary, largely in part because of how he lives inside a Trooper story bubble. For being the Imps big commander general man who is the brilliance behind everything, no one but the Trooper even hears about him either way.

 

 

It's all secondary to the first issue though, where my squad isn't really a squad for the majority of the game. It's also something I don't think they can actually fix at this point though so... /shrug.

[Eidolooon]

i belive Yuun is a bit too tall..

 

Average height

 

1.4 meters (females), 1.6 meters (males)

 

and he is normal size human or even more...

[DomiSotto]

But when they fight together, it is awesome, and I actually never seen it in any other story but the Trooper's when all 5 companions fought in the full-on flash-back to Baldur's Gate. Too bad Aric was in his underwear, it spoiled the effect somewhat. A downside of everyone having the same stat.

[Jedi_riches]

Yeah I have said before that the 1 companion model hits the trooper more than any other story since you are supposed to have a squad for a reason (other than sitting on the ship that is).

 

The one big pay-off on the trooper is the gauntlet mission where you see all of your companions fighting at the same time as you, in the amour you crafted/gathered kicking ***. In fact I enjoyed it so much I nearly died twice as I stopped paying attention to what I was doing. I just wish that there were more opportunities for this during the game.

 

Too bad Aric was in his underwear, it spoiled the effect somewhat. A downside of everyone having the same stat.

 

Was that a glitch with Jorgen as I know I took the helmets off Elara and Jorgen for the briefing cut scene but dispite putting them back on before exiting the ship they were missing for the whole battle.

Edited November 19, 2014 by Jedi_riches

[e-Sildur]

The biggest flaw with the Trooper story (...) You are supposed to be leading a team, but 90% of the time all you're actually doing is running around with a sidekick. [...]

 

100% true to that! It seems especially ridiculous before some combats, when your character yells commands like: "Havoc squad, battle formation!" instead of addressing his single buddy.

 

Unfortunately there's no Havoc Squad in trooper story. There could be for example some kind of briefing before action, where you choose your companion and send others to achieve other objectives off-screen ("You two: clear perimeter and keep an eye for enemy reinforcements; you two: disable their communications; me and X are going in").

 

There also should be mostly squad-wide dialogues (instead of usual single-companion dialogues) with all your companions involved, so you can actually see they're a team. not bunch of individuals standing in various places around your ship. Sometimes they could band up together so you meet them working out, playing darts or something, instead in their regular spots.

 

It didn't bother me completely in in another stories (honestly, I didn't even notice that before playing trooper), where your character is more or less a centerpiece holding together a bunch of individuals. However, it was very disappointed to have the same feeling in trooper story.

[VraelOplo]

Just did 1 act.

 

So good start: the story about soldiers, betrayed by politicians and seek for revenge. They are right in their own way and, because of that, there is so much potential for inner conflict of main character who must confront this soldiers. The general, who commands u to do some difficult and wrong things. It could be the story of young and idealistic sergeant, who learned The Truth of Life and was broken by it. The culmination on Justice could be the breakdown point, when main character start to doubt about what was said to him, to be more sceptical and free-minded.

 

And all of this wasted because main character is autist who has this three choices:

 

1. "U R LYING! IMPERIAL PROPAGANDA ZOMG! REPUBLIC DA BEST ALL DA TIME! JUST DOING MAH ORDERS ZOMG! NO NEED TO THINK THINKING IS FOR EGGHEADS"

2. "I am just pretend to be an idiot, and will ask random questions to play for time"

3. "U R LYING! IMPERIAL PROPAGANDA ZOMG! REPUBLIC DA BEST ALL DA TIME! JUST DOING MAH ORDERS ZOMG! NO NEED TO THINK THINKING IS FOR EGGHEADS. Oh, and also I'll gut u, rape ur family and take all ur moneyz for evulz :rak_01:".

 

Even Jedi Knight has more freedom and sense in his words and acts. It's a shame, really.

 

As an autist I can assure you we don't talk like that.

[Lord_Submarine]

100% true to that! It seems especially ridiculous before some combats, when your character yells commands like: "Havoc squad, battle formation!" instead of addressing his single buddy.

 

Completely agree. It bothers me to the degree that I really cannot enjoy the trooper story. You are being told that you are the Havoc squad, but you are no squad. While with all the other classes their achievements go to the character, the trooper himself in the story feels "weaker", because all the achievements go to the whole squad, regardless there was just you and one sidekick. Like you destroy this huge robot on your own? "Havoc squad, battle formation!" And I just facepalm.

 

Moreover, the trooper story is just about finding members of the previous Havoc squad, ONE BY ONE (see chapter 1). After that, the most elite squad of the republic flies from a planet to a planet and picks up the rest of the members, ONE BY ONE (see chapter 2), in order to have one cool, but really short mission at the end (see final of chapter 2). Chapter 3 does not really make it better, you still do not feel like you are the most elite squad in the republic. Why are the planet class missions so dumb? Some missions inbetween feel right for a Havoc squad, but the rest too much.

 

The concept of a squad just does not fit the MMO with one companion. Pushing it into it was a mistake, imho.

[dcaleb]

Honestly, I couldn't get into the trooper storyline because the premise is just stupid. How is it possible that anyone could think defecting to the Empire over treatment of soldiers was a good idea? Do they just somehow not know that the Empire is ruled by a magical aristocracy that is often insane from the power source they draw on and are legally allowed to kill troops for the lulz? I mean, that one crazy guy who wanted to conduct inhumane experiments I could sorta understand, while the Republic occasionally allows such things (the Power Guard project from the Knight storyline comes to mind) the Empire lets you do it a lot more often. But then you have people like Fuse who act downright shocked upon discovering that Imperial Command is full of jerks that think civilians are good guinea pigs for testing explosives.

 

Nonetheless, I managed to slog through it and get to act 2. Then I discovered that, for some stupid *** reason, I'm doing grunt work like personally fetching new members for my squad. I quit around the time Vik started giving his commanding officer a bunch of stupid **** to do for the purpose of obtaining some sort of mystery objective he refuses to tell me about before he will join the team.

[DomiSotto]

Was that a glitch with Jorgen as I know I took the helmets off Elara and Jorgen for the briefing cut scene but dispite putting them back on before exiting the ship they were missing for the whole battle.

 

No, no, not a bug. He showed up just as he was attired at the time: in boxers and the big cannon. An epitome of masculinity. That has nothing on the cutscene where I had to pick Aric or Elara to promote. "Yes, General, SIR! I run a tight outfit! Sgt. Dorne is a talented officer... zut, Elara, sorry, I forgot to give you that spare chestguard... pants... and everything else."

 

This morning though, through no fault of mine this time Yuun showed up in his undies when we went to free another set of VIP hostages. He was back in his default armor in the next cutscene though, so maybe it was one of those weird transitions when everyone gets super-casual.

 

Thanks goodness for Forex. He's always dressed!

Edited November 25, 2014 by DomiSotto